bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Boone Pickens got rich from his work in the oil business. in recent years he's become increasingly concerned about the u.s. reliance on foreign sources of fossil fuel, especially with such vast resources in the u.s., of natural gas in particular.

he's also tried hard to get wind energy going in the mid west, but it's been a hard struggle.

he's in his 80's. he's nothing to gain by trying to help the u.s. (except for his grandkids and his love of country).

he makes a whole lot of sense to me. he's not against electric cars at all. but he says they can't help yet with (freight) trucks, trains, and ships...

see what you think.

bagwell

Good video.....If just the 200+ million plus CARS in the USA were electric with power generated by wind, natural gas, coal, nuclear, etc what would happen to oil consumption?

I didnt mention some type of solar panels could be installed on the 125 million houses in the USA either.

I8ABMR

you'd think that if efficiency is the issue then we should be focusing on the huge trucks and planes. Im sure they can do better. If the auto industry has risen to the occasion then the truck companies do too

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

well of course oil consumption would go down (and has been, mostly due to improved fuel economy). but electric cars are expensive, the range limited, and the home/work charging infrastructure isn't there and will cost trillions to put in place.

plus, if natural gas is going to be used to create electricity for cars, you might as well just put the natural gas in the car since it would be cheaper, and much more efficient. you still have the distribution problem, but of course many homes and other places already have plentiful natural gas supplies, although that wouldn't get compressed gas.

bagwell

I bet 99% of theoretical/proposed plug in vehicle owners charge could exclusivley at home and have zero issues doing so.

Something like 90% of commutes are under 40 miles a day.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

but if those millions of drivers did in fact charge their cars overnight at home, that extra power generation capacity has to be made too. and while solar, wind can help a bit, chances are it's likely to be coal, gas, or nuclear, well, not coal as the current administration has killed the industry.

bagwell

yep true, but 200 million people won't buy an electric car tomorrow either...and remember most of these are charged during low demand times.

how about this plan - electric co's get a bulk buy on the most affordable, efficient solar panels and install on each of their customer's houses in exchange for a reduced electricity rate for the customer.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I don't think it'll ever be just one resource to do it all, more a combination of several

Sulu

I am willing to bet this is exactly what people were saying 100 years ago about gasoline-fired cars: the range is limited, the re-fueling infrastructure is not there and would cost a lot to put in place. And yet, because there were enough people who believed in gasoline-powered cars, see where we are today? (And note that when automobiles first came out, the choice was -- like now -- between gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.)

And despite the lack of re-fueling infrastructure and other "limitations" (some more psychological rather than realistic) of battery-powered electric cars, we need it. Just as the rich, "first adopters" were able to bring about the ubiquitous use of the gasoline-fired cars of today, it is today's rich, first adopters (and builders) of electric cars that will bring about the better -- more power-dense yet lighter -- batteries of tomorrow.

If we ignore electric cars completely right now, we will be stuck with dino-powered cars for much longer than we should, but if we start to encourage electric cars today, the technology will evolve that much sooner so that we truly have a good choice when we need it.

bagwell

nice post...!!

I can just imagine people saying about the first cars, "thanks, but I'll stick with my trusty horse" LOL

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

what i said is a fact, not an opinion, but i didn't say it won't or shouldn't happen. it just won't happen quickly. like boone pickens, i'm not a naysayer, electric cars will get better and be more practical. but YOU'RE overlooking the fact that the electricity needed to charge those coming electric cars needs to be generated somehow, and so called green energy isn't going to be abundant enough.

who said we should ignore them?

but what's your issue with using the vast quantities of natural gas in north america to power cars? let me guess... 'climate change'? well, either way it will get used, if electric comes get more popular, the gas will just be used to generate electricity for charging instead.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

did you even watch the video?

bagwell

yes I replied about the video in POST #2
POST #10 was a reply to POST #9...keep up man

UpSideDown

Its a bigger revolution From horse carriage --> gasoline cars, than from gasoline cars --> electric cars.

I can see that the electricity cost will goes up dramatically. They have to get the money back from the loss of the fossil fuels and the infrastructure buildout. Maybe another tax for electric cars too.

spwolf

i dont understand your point really... you need to build new distribution for natural gas too. And it has limited supplies too. So what happens in 60 years from now?

Video is really small, so it doesnt really explain much at all.

He talks about no distribution for EVs and $80k Tesla. Where is distribution for natural gas (for cars) and where can you buy them?